The present invention relates to a clip for securing a bodywork element, such as a fender for example, to the structure of a motor vehicle.
At the present time, there are, in the motor industry, numerous techniques designed for joining two parts together, for example screwing, bonding or the use of clips.
Screw-fastening techniques involve a lengthy assembly time and detract from the appearance of the assembly as the screws are visible and liable to corrosive attack.
Assembly techniques employing bonding have the disadvantage of producing a permanent assembly, it no longer being possible for the two parts to be separated subsequently. In addition, burring phenomena may occur and these techniques of assembly by bonding also entail a not insignificant curing time.
To alleviate these disadvantages, motor vehicle manufacturers use, for securing bodywork elements, such as fenders, for example, to the structure of the motor vehicle, clips which can be built into one of the two parts that are to be assembled or attached to them before they are mounted.
In general, the clips used hitherto comprise a head which is fixed to the fender and an elastically deformable part connected to this head and which is intended to collaborate in snap-fastening with an opening made in the structure of the motor vehicle.
However, motor vehicle manufacturers have an increasing tendency to use so-called xe2x80x9cshape memoryxe2x80x9d fenders for the front fenders of vehicles, which fenders are, for example, made of plastic and can undergo significant deformation under the action of mechanical and/or thermal stresses and then return to their initial shape without damage when these stresses cease.
Now, the clips currently employed do not allow the fender to undergo deformation under the action of thermal and/or mechanical stresses and, in particular, in the case of low-speed impacts, that is to say impacts at below 16 km/h, which means that it is almost invariably necessary to replace it.
In addition, the movement of the fender, particularly in the case of a plastic fender, becomes necessary given the thermal stresses to which the vehicle is subjected, particularly as the bodywork passes through the paint station after the xe2x80x9ccataphoresisxe2x80x9d bake at the paintworks, without residual deformation when it returns to ambient temperature.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a clip for securing a bodywork element, such as a fender, for example, to the structure of the vehicle which allows simple, quick assembly and which allows this bodywork element to deform under the action of mechanical and/or thermal stresses.
The subject of the invention is therefore a clip for securing a bodywork element, such as a fender for example, to the structure of a motor vehicle, characterized in that it comprises:
a mounting plate formed by a plate delimiting a bearing face designed to collaborate with the bodywork element and comprising, on this bearing face, on the one hand, means of snap-fastening to the bodywork element and, on the other hand, frangible means for releasing the bodywork element from the structure of the vehicle when a determined transverse stress is applied to the bodywork element, and
a quarter-turn fastener which fits into a slot made in the structure to hold the assembly formed by; the mounting plate and the bodywork element, said bodywork element being movable in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle.
According to other particular embodiments of the invention:
the means of snap-fastening to the bodywork element are formed of at least one horizontal tab formed on a lateral edge of a frame formed under the plate and running parallel to the bearing face of said plate and of at least one vertical tab arranged on the other lateral edge of the frame and elastically deformable in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the motor vehicle,
the frame has a shape that is the mate of a cutout made in the bodywork element,
the cutout of the bodywork element has the shape of a U and the frangible means comprise two opposed tongues each formed on one lateral edge of the frame of the plate, each tongue having the shape of a T and being intended to collaborate with a notch formed on an edge of said cutout,
the quarter-turn fastener is formed of a shank comprising, at one of its ends, a head and, at the other of said ends, two opposed branches curved toward said head,
the fastener can be turned between, on the one hand, a position for being introduced in turn into a slot made on the mounting plate and into the slot of the structure, in which position the branches of the shank are parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle and, on the other hand, a position of locking on the structure, in which position the branches of the shank are perpendicular to said longitudinal axis of the vehicle,
the branches of the fastener are elastically deformable in bending with respect to a plane passing through the shank of said fastener,
the distance between the free ends of the two branches of the fastener is shorter than the length of each slot,
the distance between the free ends of the branches of the fastener is greater than the width of each slot.
Another subject of the invention is an assembly of a bodywork element such as a fender, for example, with the structure of a motor vehicle, characterized in that that is it achieved by means of at least one securing clip as mentioned hereinabove.